Getty Buffalo Bills dead coach Sean McDermott (R) and general manager Brandon Beane (L) may lose their senior director of pro scouting, Malik Boyd.
Days after a disappointing end to the season, the Buffalo Bills are starting to make changes.
The Bills reportedly parted ways with safeties coach Jim Salgado on January 26, ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg reported. The move came after the Bills defense stumbled in a 27-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday to be bounced from the divisional round of the playoffs.
Bills safeties coach Jim Salgado was fired today, a source told ESPN.
Salgado has been on Sean McDermott’s staff since 2017. From 2020-21, he was the team’s nickels coach. He moved to safeties this year.
Salgado’s firing was seen as a bit of a surprise, as he had been on the coaching staff for the last six seasons and the safeties group played well despite being hit hard by injuries last season.
Bills Moving in New Direction
As John Wawrow of The Associated Press noted, Salgado had joined Buffalo’s coaching staff in Sean McDermott’s first season as head coach, starting as a defensive assistant in 2017 before being promoted to coach nickel cornerbacks in 2020.
Buffalo’s safeties had been one of the best position groups in recent years — with both Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde being named to All-Pro teams last season — but suffered a number of costly injuries this year. Hyde underwent surgery for a neck injury in Week 2 and did not return. He was replaced by Damar Hamlin, who showed strong play before collapsing on the field in the team’s Week 17 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Poyer also suffered a series of injuries, missing time and playing hurt for the majority of the season.
Though the Bills had one of the top defenses last season, the secondary struggled in Sunday’s loss to the Bengals and quarterback Joe Burrow took advantage of breakdowns to find wide receivers open on a number of key plays.
Jordan Poyer’s Uncertain Future, Changes Ahead for Bills
In his season-ending press conference, McDermott hinted that there could be some changes to the safety position next season. McDermott said that Christian Benford, a standout cornerback in his rookie season, could make the change to safety for next year as part of his planned long-term development.
“That’s been talked about way back when we first picked up Christian and we’ll just see where it goes,” McDermott said.
If it’s end for Jordan Poyer in Buffalo, he goes out w/ greatest example of team 1st I’ve seen in my 35 years. Playing w/o new deal & playing thru elbow, ribs that put him in van to KC & then bad knee. Ends w/head injury. He’s player they NEED. Don’t think it happens.#BillsMafia
The Bills also face an uncertain future with Poyer, who is set to become a free agent in March. Though his camp expressed a desire to return, contract extension talks reportedly failed to gain traction and Poyer has dropped hints that his time in Buffalo could be coming to an end.
While he didn’t mention Poyer specifically, McDermott said broadly that the team is prepared for a different team with a different roster next season. He added that the player evaluation process has already begun.
“It’ll be a new roster and a new start to a new roster in the next couple of days here and we have to reset things,” McDermott shared. “And you guys have heard me say before, you don’t just pick up where you’ve left off the season before. That’s why that postseason evaluation is so important that we’re honest with that evaluation, and objective with who we are and what we must become in order to get there.”